Team 2013 Las Vegas and other fellows have been iterating on an API for the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for use in their city project. Normally available as a series of Excel spreadsheet files, Lou Huang and team have developed a simple JSON-based API for searching and accessing this useful data and made it available at NAICS.us. The source code behind the service is available under Github/CodeForAmerica. We’d been adding documentation and search capabilities when the government shutdown began, but it’s an opportune time to push it out of the nest early.

In the land of U.S. Census geographic and demographic data, the FTP server at ftp.census.gov is ordinarily a stable repository of extensive, high-quality files in downloadable ZIP form. This week, it’s unresponsive for the foreseeable future.

The only reliable way to preserve data online is to make copies — and the more copies, the better!

That’s why a government API will never be enough. It’s just so much easier to copy data when it’s directly downloadable in bulk. APIs can be extremely useful, but they also centralize control and form a single point of failure. Ultimately, APIs are optional — data is a necessity.

We’re not exactly getting our mail from Kevin Costner yet, but these real and direct consequences of the federal shutdown remind us of the fragile pieces loosely joined that make up our digital platforms. Whether caused by GOP deadlock or east coast electrical storms, the data and services we build on are periodically stressed. What are you doing to prepare for the unexpected?